1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to computer networks and more particularly to a method and system for monitoring and collecting quality-of-service data in a client-server computer network such as the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
The World Wide Web is the Internet's multimedia information retrieval system. In the Web environment, client machines effect transactions to Web servers using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which is a known application protocol providing users access to files (e.g., text, graphics, images, sound, video, etc.) using a standard page description language known as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). HTML provides basic document formatting and allows the developer to specify "links" to other servers and files. In the Internet paradigm, a network path to a server is identified by a so-called Uniform Resource Locator (URL) having a special syntax for defining a network connection. Use of an HTML-compatible browser (e.g., Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer) at a client machine involves specification of a link via the URL. In response, the client makes a request to the server (sometimes referred to as a "Web site") identified in the link and, in return, receives in return a document or other object formatted according to HTML.
Web site operators desire to monitor the quality-of-service they provide to Web clients in order to address and rectify service problems. To this end, various solutions have been proposed and some have been implemented, with mixed results. One approach is to place dedicated monitors or machines at a selected plurality (e.g., 30-40) Internet Service Provider (ISP) or other locations throughout the Internet and to collect various types of usage statistics that are then sold or distributed back to Web site operators interested in such information. The information measured by these monitors, however, may only represent only a small fraction of the total paths used to connect to any given large server. In addition, such monitors are useless for resolving questions about the quality-of-service (e.g., server response times) for requests issued by way of an ISP that is not connected to the set of monitors.
Another approach that has been suggested is to reward or provide incentives for Web client users to monitor their own usage and to return those collected statistics back to a central collection point for subsequent distribution. That approach has certain drawbacks as well, most notably the inability to achieve statistical significance given the sample size and characteristics. Another drawback is the requirement that the user's identity must be maintained by the monitoring service in order to provide the award or incentive. Once the user's identity is revealed to the monitoring service, demographic information is often provided to third parties for other, perhaps unintended uses (e.g., to provide targeted advertisements). Many users are not prepared to trade their privacy for such discounts or incentives.
There remains a need to provide a technique by which Web site operators can monitor the quality-of-service being provided from their sites while users (that generate the raw data for such statistics) are assured that such information is being collected anonymously. The present invention solves this problem.